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U.S.|Reincarnated by A.I., Arizona Man Forgives His Killer at Sentencing
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/08/us/ai-victim-impact-statement-manslaughter.html
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A likeness of Christopher Pelkey, who was killed in a 2021 road rage episode, was created with artificial intelligence. It was part of a victim’s impact statement.
May 8, 2025Updated 8:45 p.m. ET
The letters came streaming in: from battalion brothers who had served alongside Christopher Pelkey in Iraq and Afghanistan, fellow missionaries and even a prom date.
A niece and nephew addressed the court.
Still, the voice that mattered most to Mr. Pelkey’s older sister, Stacey Wales, would most likely never be heard when it was time for an Arizona judge to sentence the man who killed her brother during a 2021 road rage episode — the victim’s.
Ms. Wales, 47, had a thought. What if her brother, who was 37 and had done three combat tours of duty in the U.S. Army, could speak for himself at the sentencing? And what would he tell Gabriel Horcasitas, 54, the man convicted of manslaughter in his case?
The answer came on May 1, when Ms. Wales clicked the play button on a laptop in a courtroom in Maricopa County, Ariz.
A likeness of her brother appeared on an 80-inch television screen, the same one that had previously displayed autopsy photos of Mr. Pelkey and security camera footage of his being fatally shot at an intersection in Chandler, Ariz. It was created with artificial intelligence.
“It is a shame we encountered each other that day in those circumstances,” the avatar of Mr. Pelkey said. “In another life, we probably could have been friends. I believe in forgiveness and in God, who forgives. I always have and I still do.”
